Do Over: How to reinvent your career and rescue Monday morning

DO YOUR Mondays need rescuing? Best-selling author Jon Acuff says we all need to switch up our work lives with this simple equation.

JON Acuff is a seriously disappointing self-help guru. He doesn’t wake up at the crack of dawn to do yoga while checking emails, he hates learning new things and he sometimes has events where hardly anyone shows up.

“I’d love to say I wake up and sip a coffee while staring out over a vista, planning my next move, but I just want to watch Netflix,” he told news.com.au “I’m the opposite of that paddleboarding type.”

Jon admits his underwhelming performances stretch all the way back to his first job as a mailman, when he once asked someone if he could use their bathroom as he handed over their post. So why would we listen to anything this guy says?

Well, he’s a New York Times best-selling author, who gets invited to speak at world-leading companies about the concepts in his new book, Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work And Never Get Stuck.

His big idea is that we are constantly facing transitions in our work life, whether it’s a job loss, an opportunity or hitting a ceiling. So he travelled around the US asking people in different industries how we should navigate those changes.

“If you pretend you don’t have weaknesses, no one will trust you,” he says. “That’s a fake reality. Ninety per cent of what we see on social media is fake.”

He came up with the “Career Savings Account”, which has four pillars: relationships, skills, character and hustle. If we want to remain engaged with what we do, we need to build each one.

It’s always a good time to make a fresh start.

SKILLS

“We spend 18 years preparing for graduation, and then we just look forward to retirement and death. You hit a ceiling and get stuck. We don’t want to lose our job, we’re afraid of the unknown, we put their heads in the sand.”

One designer told Jon they realised that if they didn’t learn to design for the internet, they would become a dinosaur.

“People ask, why didn’t Kodak invent Instagram?” Jon says. “You have to understand where your industry is going. It’s impossible to get stuck somewhere old if you work on something new.”

But he admits it “takes humility” to learn new things. We have to face up to not being good at something and admit we don’t know something. The solution? Put yourself in a position where you have no choice but to learn.

‘Get a hammer, never become a dinosaur, sharpen old skills and learn new ones.’

RELATIONSHIPS

Jon hates the word “networking” almost as much as he hates inspirational quotes — he thinks it sounds slimy. But he sees working on relationships as “the original job hack”.

“Relationships get you your first gig, skills your second. Be deliberate about casual relationships. You might get a job through a friend you haven’t seen in three years but are connected with on Facebook.”

He compares relationships to boomerangs — they may go away but you never know when they’ll come back.

‘Get a table, throw more boomerangs, make friends on purpose and be intentional.’

CHARACTER

Who you are is the “mortar that holds the Career Savings Account together”, he says. When we make a career jump to a new role, we need a solid character to push through uncertainty and chaos.

Jon believes it’s vital to be honest and confident in ourselves. Without integrity, we risk being seen as liars, phonies or simply not likable.

He warns that even after the leap, there’s fear to battle, but with a strong sense of self — and how that relates to others — we can beat it.

‘Plant an orchard, make people bigger, be present and recognise that generosity always costs less than greed.’

HUSTLE

Jon has to hustle as much as anyone else. At one time, he was selling books out of the boot of his car.

We’ve all done it before, he says, we just need to focus on hustling as an art to be mastered. “You hustled when you and your wife were dating to convince her you were the one,” he writes.

When you’re just starting out, you need hustle to go places. Otherwise, you could waste your potential and succumb to inertia.

‘Get a gas can, go with grit, learn the seasons and practice career yoga.’

We all have the chance to reclaim our careers and have an adventure, but we need to start thinking about it now. “The worst time is when you’ve had a wave hit you,” says Jon. “It’s better to do it when you have a stable foundation.”

Jon had his dream job — and he left it. He wanted to take a risk and go it alone, but there were moments when he wondered if it was the right choice.

“Bravery’s a choice, not a feeling. Movies tell you it feels good, but it feels like wanting to cry. My wife and I don’t sleep for six months of the year.”

He works with all sorts of companies from Microsoft to Comedy Central to Tennessee Valley Authority, and says good employers want to help their staff develop.

“Some CEOs don’t want their employees to get better because they’re afraid they’ll leave. It’s like dating someone you don’t want to get healthy.

He says millennials need to be realistic, but not disheartened.

“You won’t get your dream job out of college, your first job is to teach you how to have a job.”

The book isn’t about quitting your job (that was his first book, Quitter), getting started on a project you’ve been thinking about (that was his second, Start) or even about finishing what you’ve started (that’s his next book, Complete). It’s about building a career by changing how we see our job, taking risks and trying again when we fail.

“I tell people, I don’t know what they’ll be doing in ten years, but they’ll never regret being more invested, skilful and confident.”

With his funny and authentic approach to life, he’s the perfect example of why it’s always a good time for a fresh start.

Find out more about Jon Acuff’s new book Do Over and take his “awesome career audit” assessment here.

Originally published as Do Over: How to reinvent your career and rescue Monday morning